Lessard and Martin drop two round robin matches on beach volleyball World Tour

STAVANGER, Norway - Marie-Andrée Lessard of Ville LaSalle, Que., and Annie Martin of Sherbrooke, Que., lost their opening two round robin matches on Wednesday at the seventh stop on the beach volleyball World Tour circuit.

The tournament is also the second Grand Slam event of the year with prize money nearly doubled to $600,000 for the men and women.

Lessard and Martin, seeded 22nd, lost their opening match 21-17, 21-18 to number-11 Doris Schwaiger and Stefanie Schwaiger of Austria then fell to sixth-seeds Chen Xue and Xi Zhang of China 21-14, 21-18.

The Chinese pair lead the pool with a 2-0 record while the Austrians and Gioria Daniela and Giulia Momoli of Italy are 1-1. The Canadians face the Italians on Thursday and are in a must win situation to have an opportunity to advance to the playoff round.

In men’s qualifying Christian Redmann and Richard Van Huizen of Toronto lost their opening match to Jose Pedrosa and Hugo Gaspar of Portugal 22-20, 22-20.